


Crystal Neth

by sarkywoman



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Drug Use, M/M, References to Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-09
Updated: 2007-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-30 09:13:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3931267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarkywoman/pseuds/sarkywoman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Balthier goes missing in Archades, Vaan finds him returning to bad habits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crystal Neth

“Are we certain that this is the right place?” Basch asked the group again. Penelo sighed, Fran nodded. They were in Archades, waiting for Balthier. Supposedly the sky pirate was waiting for them, but when they had arrived via cab at the centre of the city, Balthier was nowhere to be found. They had been waiting for about half an hour. The way Fran kept scanning the streets suggested she was worried, the smallest things showing her anxiety since she was usually so composed and aloof. 

“Maybe we should look for him?” Penelo asked. “If we split up, we’d be sure to find him. And we could all arrange to meet back here in thirty minutes so we don’t all get lost.”

“Somebody should remain here, in case he arrives in our absence,” Ashe said. “We wouldn’t want him to wander off again.”

“What could happen to him anyway?” Vaan asked. “I get that he’s a wanted man and all, but he’s been okay so far.” Balthier had turned out to be more than Vaan had ever dreamed of expecting from a sky pirate. If he could be anything like that in five years time, he’d die happy. 

“Balthier knows people in Archades,” Fran said in her Viera accent. “Friends that he might visit, enemies that might wish to do him harm.” Quietly, she added, “habits he could resume.”

“So it’s settled then. Lady Ashe, I ask that I be allowed to guard you while we search. Vaan or Penelo can remain as Fran undoubtedly knows where to check first.”

“Not me!” Both teenagers cried out at once, eager to explore the city.

“Penelo, you stay here,” Basch commanded, ignoring the girl’s whine. “Vaan and Fran can search together. If there is any trouble, return to this point so that you can witness the return of the others from nearby.”

The group nodded, Penelo sighing again at her misfortune. Basch and Ashe walked in one direction, Vaan and Fran in the other. There was an awkward silence between Vaan and Fran, the younger man not knowing what to say. After they had been walking for a few minutes, Vaan noticed they were taking a route not shown on his map.

“Uh, Fran, where are we going?”

“Old Archades is not the low point of the Empire. Their darkest dens of depravity lie in the shadows of the grandest palaces and the cleanest homes.”

Vaan let the words sink in before replying. “So… they’re all hypocrites?”

“They think that not putting bad things on maps stops them from existing.”

“But why would Balthier go to that kind of place?”

“Balthier…” Fran faltered a little before continuing, “Has bad habits. He has overcome them but still, I worry. Archades has ways of turning the past into the present.”

“What kind of bad habits?”

Fran didn’t reply. All sorts of possibilities ran through Vaan’s head, most of them bad, some of them ridiculous. In Lowtown he’d been exposed to all kinds of things and Vaan was trying to fit the right kink to his mental image of Balthier. He really hoped it wasn’t young men. Seriously. Vaan had lots of issues in that direction and it would totally mess up his feelings towards the handsome, older sky pirate.

They reached a point where the road split into two. “We separate here,” Fran said.

“Whoa, separate? I thought we were supposed to stick together.”

“We will cover more ground this way. Meet back with Penelo in twenty minutes.” With that simple command, the Viera ventured off alone down the left road. Vaan sighed and began to wander down the right.

It was strange to think that this was a rough area. It was relatively clean, the people were still smiling, more in fact than in the proper Archades. Vaan noticed few people his own age around though; when he did see one they appeared to be working in a trade he was familiar with. Still, if this road was dropped into Rabanastre, it would be proclaimed the glorious new centre of town. Some doors opened as he passed, offering glances into strange worlds of velvet and sparkling smoke. From that and the bags being passed from hand to hand in the street, Vaan could tell that there were drugs in circulation around here that he had never heard of.

“Hey lad, crystal neth?” A grubby man in an expensive looking coat put a bag of the afore-mentioned sparkling crystals in front of his face. “Sexy little thing like you, bound to be raking it in, can afford the decadence, I expect.”

Vaan shook his head and backed up a step but was stopped by a familiar voice before he could speak.

“You don’t wanna be doing that Restak, the boy’s here with Balthier.”

Jules stepped out of the shadows of the nearby alley. The man with the drugs, Restak, gave Vaan a long appraising look. “He’s with Ffamran? Bit young for ‘im, isn’t he?”

Jules shook his head. “I don’t think they’re like that. There’s a brawny man in their little party, carries a big sword…”

Restak sniffed. “Yeah, sounds more like Ffam’s type. Hear that, lad?” he jostled Vaan slightly, “need to put on some muscle, get yerself a big sword, he’ll like yer then.”

Before Vaan could even begin to wonder what to say in response to that, Restak had ambled off down the alleyway, leaving the young blond alone with Jules. The man smiled at Vaan. “Not the best area for you to be wandering, kid.”

“I’m looking for Balthier.” As an afterthought, “and I’m not a kid.”

Jules h’mmed condescendingly. “So Balthier’s wandered, has he? Thought he might. Too much temptation and he always was easily swayed.”

“Do you know where I can find him? I’m not sure where I’m supposed to be looking. Brothels, maybe?”

Jules laughed at that. “Brothels? My boy, haven’t you looked at Balthier? He’s the darling of this city, could drop his trousers in the street, bat his eyelids and have an Imperial on his knees in a heartbeat. No need for brothels.”

Vaan tried to act nonchalant. “Whatever. Where should I be looking then?”

Jules shook his head. “No investigative skills at all. What can Archades offer him that he can’t easily obtain elsewhere?” Vaan shrugged. He didn’t know the city well enough for a game of twenty questions. Jules sighed, and then his eyes fixed on something on the floor. A strange sparkle. The man stooped and picked up something. “Look here. Don’t breathe near it.”

Vaan leant close to Jules’ palm. A fine powder, light blue in colour. “What is it?”

“Nethicite.” With that, Jules brought his palm to his hand and snorted it up his nostrils. Vaan stared in horror. Jules closed his eyes and sighed. “That is what Master Balthier’s after. Old habits die hard and all that. Used to be a bit of a neth-head for a while, Bal did. Blame the parents, that’s what I say. Bal could come across the stuff easily at first see, could provide his own. Course, the mess with his father put a stop to that, but ‘til he got that airship of his, Bal was down here, exchanging favours for neth. They say it’s the best high you can get.” He laughed, opening his eyes that seemed, to Vaan, to possess a slight purplish sparkle. “Listen to me talking my head off. Neth does that to me. Strange, what it does to people. Knew one girl, happy as rain, takes neth to convince her doctor she’s got clinical depression ‘cos it makes her so miserable. Restak back there, he’ll swear blind he’s the King of Dalmasca if you give him a sniff of his own medicine. Ought to warn him his bags are leakin’ actually, no other way this stuff could’ve got on the street.”

“What about Balthier?”

“Aw, Balthier’s lots of fun when he’s given a dose. Sometimes we’d all pitch in to get him good and gone.”

“I mean where is he?” Vaan asked loudly, feeling uncomfortable with what he’d heard so far. He hadn’t wanted to know all this stuff.

“Probably in a neth den. There’s a few down ‘ere.”

Vaan sighed. He didn’t have that long before he had to go back and meet up with everyone, but he didn’t want to go back without him. Unless of course, Fran found him. “Are there neth dens down that road, too?” He gestured towards the street that Fran had taken.

“A couple, sure. Very popular. Only takes a little sniff of properly prepared nethicite to get you going, very profitable for dealers.”

Vaan turned to leave. He wasn’t going to find him. Jules’ hand on his shoulder stopped him. “Hey, hold up kid, wait a sec. I might know where he is.”

Vaan crossed his arms angrily. “Then why didn’t you tell me a minute ago?”

“Balthier asked me to keep quiet. Threw some gil my way. Throw some more and I’ll take you to him.”

Vaan grumbled about swindlers as he passed Jules five-hundred gil. “Now will you tell me where he is?” Jules shook his head, coaxing another five-hundred gil from Vaan. Then he nodded and started to walk down the street, further into the disreputable area of Archades. Vaan followed him, still looking curiously at the different buildings. “How long will it be? We’ve got places to get to.”

“I’m sure you have. I’m also sure that Master Balthier won’t be going anywhere soon, not if he’s been in that neth-den for an hour. You’ll have a job waiting out his high and keeping him from more neth. That Ffamran, once he gets going…” Jules stopped outside a conspicuously classy building. “This is the one. Likes his luxuries, does Balthier.” They walked into a foyer that had such thick carpeting it hid their shoes. Jules saluted the old woman behind the counter. “The prodigal son where I left him?” The woman nodded and Jules started climbing the spiral staircase. “Even after all this time, Balthier gets special treatment wherever he goes. Guess it’s his charms. Makes you sick, doesn’t it?”

Vaan didn’t answer. Sickness was not his general response to Balthier’s ‘charms’. They were in a corridor now with what seemed like infinite doors. Jules walked three down before knocking and opening the door without waiting for a response.

The room was luxurious, but Vaan failed to be impressed. He barely even noticed the velvets, silks and laces around the place. His eyes immediately honed in on Balthier’s reclining form on the bed. His shirt was on the floor in a heap, his trousers were unbuckled. He glanced up at the newcomers, blinking sleepily. “Hello Jules, Vaan.” The room smelt strange. “Vaan,” Balthier pointed a wavering finger in his direction, “you shouldn’t be here. Bad Vaan, bad.” Then he slumped back on the bed. 

Vaan went to his side and tugged at his arm. “Come on, Balthier. We’ve got to go.”

“No we haven’t. Always in such a hurry, always hurrying scurrying, what’s the rush?”

“Remember, the Draklor labs?”

Balthier laughed. “How could I forget? Like I could forget. All those corridors, all those guards, all those rooms full of lovely nethicite…”

Vaan frowned at his idol. “Thought you hated nethicite?”

Balthier waved a hand airily. “In the wrong hands it’s very bad. They don’t know what to do with it, aren’t happy just for a good time, need to rule the world and act the fool…”

“You’re acting the fool right now,” Vaan said sullenly.

Jules silently left, closing the door behind him. “Jules shouldn’t have brought you here. I gave him good gil.”

“I gave him gil too.”

“He’s making a mint out of us today, isn’t he?” Balthier said with a laugh. “Bad, bad Jules. I paid him to keep you away.”

“Why?”

“Fran will have my head, you know. She doesn’t understand at all.”

“I don’t understand.”

Balthier pushed himself upright and reached for the table. His hair was a mess and Vaan could see the purple sparkles in his eyes, same as Jules’ only much larger in number. Balthier picked up a pinch of powder between his thumb and forefinger, put it to Vaan’s nose. “Go on, it’ll help. I’m feeling generous.”

Vaan knocked his hand away angrily. He didn’t have a go at Balthier though, he knew there was little point. He’d known junkies, had friends go that way. They hadn’t lasted long. Point was, there was no reasoning with a high person. Balthier probably wouldn’t dream of offering him this usually, hell, he’d refused to give him a sip of Bhujerban Madhu. The drugs changed people. And this was nethicite, who knew what kind of effect that had on your psyche? “We have to go soon. As soon as you’re slightly less stupid.”

“Mean,” Balthier replied before flopping back onto the bed and sniffing the powder from his fingers, pinching his nose and shuddering afterwards.

Vaan lost it. He stood up and pushed the table over, not breathing as a faint mist rose up from the nethicite. Once it faded, he turned to Balthier. “Stop taking it! It’s bad for you and it’s making you act dumb and I don’t like you on it.”

Balthier watched him calmly, then sat up and held his arms open. “Come here.” Vaan did, without thinking about it. Balthier hugged him. “Ssh, now. You’ve been around me long enough now to know I don’t do this very often. It’s not a habit. I’m just relaxing, calming my nerves. It’s not a habit.”

“I’ve heard differently,” Vaan mumbled into Balthier’s bare chest.

“Well it was a habit once, but now it’s not.” Balthier was far from a stable thing to lean on, constantly swaying back and forth or side to side. “Gave it up for clear skies.” Now Balthier was leaning on Vaan rather than the other way round, his head on the younger man’s shoulder, his breath warm against Vaan’s neck.

There was silence for a while and Vaan thought Balthier might have fallen asleep on him. But when he ducked his head to see the Pirate’s face, Balthier’s eyes were watching him. The faint sparkle of purple was still there. “You know Fran’s probably gonna kill you. We were waiting for you for ages and it seems like we’ll have to wait even longer.”

Balthier pushed back, sitting up straight. Well, almost straight. “Fran must never know! She’ll be furious and I don’t want to deal with that Vaan, I really don’t. She’s such an awful bore when she’s angry with me.”

“I’m not going to keep your dirty secrets,” Vaan said. It wouldn’t be in Balthier’s best interests to hide this, he just knew it. Although he still hadn’t known them very long, he got the sense that Fran watched out for Balthier. Maybe a tongue lashing from the Viera would keep him in line.

“Vaan, if you keep this between us, I promise I will give you anything you want,” Balthier said solemnly.

“What can you give me?”

“You mean aside from continued passage on my airship when it’s finally repaired? Well…” Mischief danced in Balthier’s eyes as he lay back on the bed, sprawled before Vaan, one leg either side of the boy’s hips. “I have noticed you looking at me a great deal. Hero worship only accounts for so much, you know.”

“You think I…” But Vaan realised his protests would be useless. Balthier knew about his infatuation. In any other situation Vaan would feel embarrassed, but the way things were he just felt awkward and annoyed. “You’re offering me sex for keeping my mouth shut?”

“I thought it would suffice. You’re what, seventeen?” Vaan nodded at the correct estimate. “Then surely sex is an enticing offer. Penelo’s advances towards you have gone unheeded, so I can only assume you prefer a more mature and masculine partner.”

“You know bargaining with sex makes you a hooker, right?”

Balthier just laughed, not offended in the least. “Well then I must be reliving all of my Archadian memories.”

This slowly sunk into Vaan’s mind. “You? No way. You can’t have been.”

“No? I earned a pretty penny.” Balthier’s smile became a frown. “At least I would have done had I saved any of it instead of blowing it on neth.”

“I don’t understand why you would sink to doing that for luxuries,” Vaan said with a little anger. “I mean, if you need the gil for food it’s one thing, but to do it for nethicite…”

“You ever need food that badly, Vaan?” Balthier asked, looking curiously up at the boy. He still looked content and relaxed and it was driving Vaan insane.

“A few times. Not like it was a hobby or anything. I never considered myself cheap,” the boy sniped.

Balthier yawned. “No, I never expected you to. I was about your age when I first got into this mess. Didn’t value much of anything, least of all myself.”

“So if you’re so worthless, why do you think I’d want you?” Vaan said, hoping to dissuade Balthier from offering himself up as a prize again.

“Just because I didn’t value myself,” Balthier’s eyes had a look of superiority again, “didn’t mean I couldn’t tell how much other people valued me. Your eyes hardly leave me. I know you want me Vaan. Sky pirates take what they want, generally.”

“I’m not a sky pirate,” Vaan said quietly.

“But you can be, and I’ll help you. Come on now,” Balthier ran a hand up Vaan’s thigh, “what are you afraid of?”

“You don’t get it,” Vaan said angrily, pushing his hand away despite enjoying the touch. “We may have had similar backgrounds but there are major differences. For starters, I didn’t enjoy what I had to do. For you to be okay about it, that’s just weird.”

Balthier frowned at him for a moment with drug-addled confusion. When understanding dawned, he gripped Vaan’s hand. “They hurt you.”

“D’uh. What else could they have done?”

Balthier tutted. “Oh Vaan, Vaan, Vaan. It doesn’t have to hurt, you know.”

This had not occurred to the boy before. “It doesn’t?”

“No. Especially not the way I want to do it. I was offering myself to you, after all, not demanding your submission.”

“You mean I…” Vaan made a few vague gestures that could be taken to mean he was going to mount Balthier. Judging by the hand movements, strange flailing would follow.

“But of course. I’ve never really cared for the hard work.” Balthier reached a hand down to the floor and before Vaan could stop him, he’d inhaled some more powdery nethicite. He laid his head back heavily against the pillow, his eyes rolling back in his head for a moment before spoke in a slow murmur. “Damn, not s’posed to take it am I? We were going somewhere.”

“Draklor labs,” Vaan muttered, almost beyond caring now.

Balthier’s eyes widened and he sat up. “We were talking, weren’t we?”

“It wasn’t important.”

“It was, it was. I was trying to get you to have sex with me. Can’t remember why…”

“Charming.”

“Oh, you’re a nice enough lad, pretty in your way, but that’s not really my type, you see. I much prefer mine rugged.”

Jules’ earlier words came back to Vaan and the boy said bitterly, “like Captain Basch?”

“Oh yes,” Balthier stared off into the distance, the glimmers of purple in his eyes giving him a mystical look. “Now there’s a man who can handle a pole…”

Vaan stood up from the bed. “I’m dragging you back to the others. This is stupid.”

“Fran! Yes, I remember! Our deal. Vaan, you weren’t going to walk out on our deal, were you?”

“We don’t have a deal! I’m not sleeping with you.”

Balthier lay back on the bed again, stretching lazily, drawing Vaan’s attentions to the way his sleek muscles moved. “But why won’t you? You clearly want to. And I want you to.”

“You’re completely out of your tree, is why.” But Vaan moved over to the bed anyway. “It’d be like taking advantage of you. Even after tonight, I think I respect you too much to do that.”

Balthier reached out and took hold of Vaan’s vest collar, pulling himself up so his body was pressed against the younger man’s. He ran his tongue along Vaan’s throat and Vaan shivered. Hated his youthful body as he became slightly aroused at the simple act. 

“What sort of pirate wouldn’t pick up his treasure when it was exposed and vulnerable?” Balthier’s cultured voice murmured softly against his skin, giving him goose-bumps. 

“I… I don’t want…” Vaan stammered as Balthier’s hand began undoing his trouser fastenings. 

“Yes you do.” The trousers dropped to the floor and Balthier kicked his off to join them. He pulled at Vaan’s vest so the younger man fell on top of him, both lying on the bed. Balthier’s skin was so hot. “You want me. Take me.”

“I…” but then Balthier shifted and Vaan’s cock rubbed against smooth, hot flesh. “Oh gods…”

Balthier reached to the drawer, which was half-opened on the floor from Vaan’s earlier outburst. He picked up a vial that looked similar to a potion, except in colour. He poured some of the substance onto his palm then took Vaan’s erection in hand, watching the teen’s reaction all the while. Vaan whimpered and thrust into the slippery grip, cursing when Balthier took his hand away.

“My, we’re awfully eager now, aren’t we?” 

Balthier’s amusement reminded Vaan of his earlier uncertainty and he was just mustering the willpower to stop this when Balthier slowly inserted a finger into himself. The Pirate’s eyes closed and he let out a blissful moan as he pushed inside himself. Vaan’s cock twitched and his mouth went dry as he watched the erotic scene. “I wanna…”

“I bet you do,” Balthier said, his eyes opening to look at Vaan again. With a slight moan that caught in his throat, he removed his finger and spread himself wide for Vaan. 

“I won’t hurt you?”

“To be honest,” Balthier said as he pulled him closer by his shoulders, “I think I’m too high to feel it if you did. Just do what you like.”

Vaan felt a slight discomfort at those words, but his cock was pressed up against Balthier’s hot ass and nothing in Ivalice could have stopped him then. He pushed in, world-weary enough to resist the belief that he wouldn’t fit. The heat was almost burning and Vaan throbbed inside Balthier’s passage for lengthy moments to try and get used to the feel. But he couldn’t hold off moving and soon the seventeen-year-old was thrusting with abandon into the handsome sky pirate, hearing his own moans as if from afar. Balthier clutched him as if his life depended on it, despite the coldness of Vaan’s vest-jacket against his skin. Vaan forced his eyes open before he came, intent on seeing Balthier as he reached orgasm inside him. With a shudder Vaan came, thrusting weakly a few more times as Balthier came between their bodies.

Shaking a little from his climax, Vaan pulled out and lay beside Balthier, whose eyes were shut. “Was that okay?”

“Super. Don’t move far, the room’s spinning and I’ll fall.” Balthier moved unsteadily closer to Vaan, so his head was resting on the young thief’s chest. Vaan sighed and put his arms around Balthier, feeling the guilt already blossoming in his heart.

*

When Vaan woke up, it took him a minute to recognise the room, then a further thirty seconds to remember what had happened between him and Balthier. He’d been covered up with a blanket, but he was alone in the bed. A brief glance around the room let him see Balthier, fully dressed, sitting on the floor at the bottom of the bed with a handkerchief held to his nose. It was covered in red splotches. Vaan was immediately concerned.

“Balthier?”

The Pirate glanced up with surprise. “Vaan,” his voice was muffled by the handkerchief. “Was wondering when you would wake up.”

“Are you okay? Is that blood?”

Balthier held the hanky away from his face, showing a smudge of blood under his nose. “It’s nothing. Just a sign I’ve been a complete fool. It’s passing already. Soon as it’s fully cleared and you’re dressed, we can go meet the others.”

Vaan glanced at the window. “Oh man, it’s morning! Penelo is gonna go spare!”

“As is Fran.” Balthier pinched his nose with the handkerchief then drew it away, satisfied as it displayed no new blood. He watched Vaan pulled on his trousers. “Vaan, we need to talk about what happened last night.”

Vaan paused in the act of putting on his trousers, then continued with a nod. “Sure.”

“I can’t begin to express my apologies. I don’t need to inform you, I’m sure, that I was not in a good frame of mind. My judgement was decidedly impaired and…”

“I know. You wouldn’t dream of touching me normally. It’s okay.”

Balthier stood. “That’s not it at all. You think I’m trying to apologise because I’m not interested in you? Vaan, I’m sorry because I coerced you into sexual activity like some sort of predatory pervert. You kept telling me you didn’t want to do it and I went ahead and pulled you into bed anyway. I was a brute.”

Vaan shrugged. “I didn’t think you were a brute. It was nice.”

“Vaan…”

“No, listen. I’m gonna actually get to tell you what I feel if I have to immobilise and silence you.” Balthier looked amused, but Vaan continued regardless. “I really like you, whether you like me or not. Even if that was a one-night thing, I won’t regret it. I’ve never felt so good in my whole life. You’ve got nothing to apologise for. Not to me, anyway. If you wanna go off and seduce Basch, that’s fine. I won’t demand more from you. Just don’t apologise for the best night of my life. Even if you were high as a wyvern.”

Balthier had an odd look in his eyes. “I don’t know… I don’t think Captain Basch would be quite so forward as to threaten to immobilise and silence me.”

Vaan’s eyebrows rose. “You mean?”

Balthier closed the gap between them and kissed him. Vaan’s first kiss. “I mean I’m considering you as a definite maybe. I’ll need companionship for this adventure, after all.”

Vaan smiled. “Good to know I’m not just pretty when you’re high.”

“I’ll be glad to reaffirm compliments on a regular basis,” Balthier said, straightening his cuffs with a joviality that he’d been missing since their arrival in Archades. Downstairs there was the sound of a door slamming and a familiar Viera voice demanding to know the whereabouts of Balthier.

“Assuming of course, that Fran doesn’t murder me in the next ten minutes.”


End file.
